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OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ARCHDIOC
ESE OF PERTH.
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A CATHOLIC WEEKLY
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N O. 2,831,
PERTH, SATURDAY, JU
21, 1934,
SIXTIETH YEAR.
Catholic Spirit Still Militant in Mexico A fter a turbulent two years' tenure of office, during whichs he made himself particularly obnoxious to the Catholic masses of th.?, country, the Mexican Minister of Public Education, has been forcSenor Narciso Bass-. ed to resign, The Catholic body was particularly shocked by his sexual education project which aroused •Itrong opposition amongst hon-Catholi;:s also. Bassols was fought by teachers, parents and students since his appointment to the Cabinet of President Abelard Rodriguez in December, 192. School strikes throughout the nation finally forced him out. . To his formal note of resignation, liassols attached a lengthy letter to the President in which he attributed all his difficulties to Catholic opposition to the laic educational policy of the National Revolutic.nary Party. In his reply, President Rodriguez wrote that Bassols. retirement from the finistrY "does not imply any rupture of the revolutionary princip nor any act of weakness on the les, part of this Government. which is deter. mined to carry on its programme, lieving that the spiritual liberation beof our nation is the 1,e7 nor nationality must -stone on which rest This fundamental principle will not be weakened, either through the crafty campaign of the clergy or the c owardly activities of certain as-;ocia11111111111111111111111111111111111111111ifil 11111111111111111111111111111111
Obnoxious Minister Forced to Resign tions which it sponsors . . . nor through the motivated actions of certain conscienceless leaders who are pretending ascendancy over the teaching profession." Nevertheless, the significant fact stands out that the Mexican people, stirred to the depths by what they considered attacks by radicals upon the morality of their children, have risen and forced the retirement of a Cabinet officer, a thing unheard of in Mexico for years. There has been a constant effort on the part of the administration to make it appear that all such organisations as the Fathers of Families and the teacher and student federations were controlled by the clergy, whereas, as a matter of fact, some of these were not Catholic and others not
wholly Catholic organisations, and non-Catholics were among the most bitter opponents of the sexual education plan. • No sooner was Bassols in office than the trouble started. Teachers questioned his educational qualifications for the position, students began to resent his arbitrary rulings, especially with regard to university affairs. Hut it was the parents who eventually forced his resignation. When the plan for sexual education in the official schools first was made p ublic, parents contented themselves w ith meeting and adopting resolutions of protest. copies of which were sent to the President, or to Secretary Bassols himself, and given out to the Press,
St. Joseph's New Church SUBIACO
4* 44•
4*
The Reigning Pontiff IMPRESSIONS OF AN AMERICAN PUBLISHER.
Undeveloped Land
HARMFUL PROPAGANDA. The Federal Attorne y-General (Mr. Latham), speakin g at a luncheon given to him by Mel-bourne Scots. recultly, said that propaganda about Australia being a vast undeveloped land of great potentialities was doing incalculable harm in the East. The ship hetweep Australia and therelation Par East, Mr. Latham said, was that the grow closer, Far East was bound to and many problems were hound to arise. The Australian mission to the of an attempEast was the beginning t to lay a basis for the solution of these prcblems, so that there would he a de,‘ent in which atmosp these problems could- hehere tacked ;:t• Mr. Latham trenchantly criticis those guilty of exporting propag ed anda such as was contained in the phrase the great nadevelopedpotentialities of this 'act No phrase had r1. ne Australialand** greater harm, he said. A large and semiportion of Australia was arid -arid: but the statement, that .there were large fertile areas unin habited r idable in Australia was doing incal Atuch of the country w ould harm. not grow anything to support a_ large Population . and the tropics of Queenslan d were nothing like the fertile,lands of China and Japan. Reviewing tween trade relationships be1t-ilatharnAustralia and the East, Mr. said: "Roth in Europe and east I find complaint that a percentage of Australian goods are not hPeto s tandard eneu,'Y Packed, , are badly graded. and unattractively lab. Eli.' I find that in the East. as in is , 1°13e, a perfectly wonderful market peoUpelitelg ineffiFiency. The rnus„%oo who export from Australia ! De told Porting that cwni, silt* for the y are not ex the sake of their " ness, but that they stralian cari a ffe t .\ustrnitar Pres tige Peopl e and .tht living of
When these were ignored and parents learned that sexual education was actually being imparted in some of the *schools, more definite steps were taken. Throngs of parents marched the streets accompanied by their children in demonstration against the Goverm'nent's educational poi icy. Finally, the parents resorted to the strike weapon, refusing to allow their children to attend any- school where sexual education was imparted officially or unofficially. Teachers resented bearing the brunt of public indignation. When the situation had reached the state where scores of schools all over Mexico were closed berause parer,ts refused to allow their children to attend. neither Bassols nor the administration could any longer dispose of the school confusion as merely a clerical plot to hamper secular education—and sn Bassols had to go 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111H11111111111111111111111HHHIU1111.
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The new Church of St. Joseph, being erected for Right Rev. Monsignor Verling, at Subiaco, is now practically complete. It will blessed and opened by His Grace the Archbishop on Sunday motbe ning, August 12. Pontifical High Mass will be celebrated by His Grace the Coadjutor Archbishop at 10 a.m. Rev-. Father Gorey, C.SS.R., will preach the occasional sermon, and Right Rev. Monsignor Fagan will be Master of Ceremonies. There will be Pontifical Benediction at 3 .'clock in the afternoon, . which will preceded by an occasional sermon, which will be preached by Very Rev. Father Neville , The Church is a very beautiful one, and a marked feature of it O.M.1. is the interior appointments and decoration. It will seat about seven hundred people, and will undoubtedly he a notable addition to tectural buildings of the City. Mr E. Le B. Henderson is the archithe architect -4041.-
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In an article written for the Associated Press following an audience which he had with His Holit2es Pope Firs XI Frederick E. Murphy. Publisher of the "Minneapolis Tribune.' and representative of the United States at international grain conferences, states that he found that the Holy Father "knows most of the important things about practically every country on this planet of ours." and that "it was a remarkable privilege to sit and listen to one whose life has been dedicated to thinking in terms of • the whole globe and of all mankind." "One may be quite uninterested in the organisation which the Pontiff dil'ects." Mr. Murphy says. "hut no one who has a rev rd for the course of the present-day world of ours can ignore the profound influence which such a gigantic figure wields from that book-piled desk of his in his study above the Square of St. Peter's." Mr. Murphy writes that he talked wheat to the Holy Father, "and he caught more quickly the significance of a surplus of 600.000,000 bushels 'than many an important Government functionary with whom we have had business during recent years." The writer also says that he found His Holiness well acquainted with "the principal moves of President Roose-' velt": that the Pope "follows the N.R,A..," and that 'he understands in all its gravity our reconstroctioo provramme for the future of out country and of the world." "In short." Mr. Murphy says, "}Ti Holiness cave me the imoression of a sniritual leader who is liyinc the daily life of all humanity. deeply symna thetic toward every effort to free the world from its present travail." He adds that the Holy Father "is the type which makes a favourable impression on the mature business man who is attracted by dignity, though tfulness and unaffectedness: and vet, when he speaks, his words are freighted with reflections that are worth
while."
Mr. Murphy also speaks of the Holy Father's -"tremendous capacity for' administrative work," and says that "he really leads. evervone agrees."